88 About the Feathered Folk. 



of metropolis : a vastly important 

 and populous place, ranking, in 

 their opinion, far before such 

 desolate and wholly inconvenient 

 spots as London or Edinburgh or 

 Liverpool. The estuaries of the 

 Thames or the Forth or the Mersey 

 may do very well for the haunts 

 of unfeathered bipeds ; but the 

 " Feathered Folk," the lords of the 

 air and the earth and the sea the 

 Cliff-birds THEY prefer Canna. 



To the north of the island the 

 cliffs of black basalt rise sheer out 

 of the water for some six hundred 

 feet; towards the east and south 

 they trend brokenly away into long 

 reefs of rock, running far into the 

 water, and they cease altogether at 

 one point, where the white sand of 

 a bay is spread. 



In late autumn, winter, and early 

 spring, these cliffs are a dreary 

 solitude. 



Down be!o\v, at the edge of the 



